You Need The Faith Of Jesus Christ

God’s word contains the record of many people’s lives, their challenges, their failings, and their faith. The record is not so much an example of good people doing good things as it is people overcoming themselves and learning to have trust and confidence in God. Abraham, who is called the father of the faithful, David who was a man after God’s own heart, Daniel who was deeply loved [precious].

You could look at such heroes of faith and conclude they are in a special category… “their example doesn’t apply to me”. You might assume they were so spiritually strong that the faith needed to get them through their trials came easily… that it just flowed naturally. You could say, “that was them, it will never be me”.

But you can have faith like that.

You can have the faith of Jesus Christ Himself

I’m not talking about having faith IN Jesus Christ… I’m talking about having the faith that Christ had [what English Bibles used to call the faith OF Christ]. The faith that got Him through His trials, difficulties, and tests… yes, He had trials and troubles… He didn’t go through His flesh and blood life floating 2 inches off the ground with a golden glow around His head.

Hebrews chapter 11 is a sort of Hall of Fame for faith. Read it and you’ll see Abraham gets a lot of attention and elsewhere he is spoken of as the father of the faithful.

But the greatest example of faith was Jesus.

Hebrews chapter 11 ends after 40 verses… then chapter 12 starts [naturally]. But the beginning of chapter 12 is really the end of our Hall of Fame for faith. The grand finale of the heroes of faith is Jesus.

Hebrews 12:1-2 Jesus is described as the author and perfecter of your faith, meaning He is the one who creates faith in your heart and mind [author]. He is the one who brings it to the point of fullness or completeness [perfecter]. The verse also points out his greatest trial… being executed, dying to pay the penalty… for you.

Jesus was faithful in that He did what the Father wanted Him to do:

• Gave His life to redeem others
• As He said of Himself “ I have kept my Father’s commandments”

For you to have the faith that Jesus had… the faith OF Christ… means that you live your life like He did. You present your self to God as a living sacrifices holy and blameless… live a life of righteousness practicing judgment and mercy… keep His commands and let them be written on your heart and mind with greater depth and understanding.

That is what scripture means when it says the righteousness that comes by faith Philippians 3:9.

Note: Here is an example of what English bibles used to call the faith OF Christ. Modern translations [NKJV included] now translate this faith IN Christ. Implying that simply believing Jesus was who He said He was and believing He sacrificed Himself as a payment for your sins now counts as the righteousness God is going to evaluate you by.

Head knowledge and emotions are not the criteria for your final assessment by God!

Galatians 2:16 here’s another one… the verse actually uses both wordings first is mentions the faith OF Christ… then it says we also have faith IN Christ [there are two different grammatical constructions side by side]. Which is exactly how it works. You need the head knowledge [belief IN Christ] AND you need the living active faith [belief OF Christ]. You need both in order to be justified [declared righteous] in God’s eyes.

Paul’s making a parallel between the two. But modern translators have made both phrases the same which renders the sentence into nonsense. [He’s not just repeating himself, we are justified by faith in Christ plus we’re justified by faith in Christ]

The phrase “faith of Christ” in verses like this is telling you is that you can be declared/made righteous through Christ’s own faith being implanted in you through the power of the Holy Spirit… the power of God in you… the power of Christ in you… or Christ living in you. These are just different ways of saying the same thing.

Galatians 2:20 at the tail end of this section of teaching the older traditional translation “faith OF the Son of Man” makes more sense. The context adds weight to this conclusion. Paul is talking about Christ living in him, the active living faith Jesus had… active and living in Paul… the faith of Christ.

Jesus lived His flesh and blood life filled with faith and perfect obedience to His Father’s will and commands. Now… today… through the power of the Holy Spirit He will plant that faith in you… like a seed… so it can grow to become strong and powerful in you [like a mustard seed that grows into a mighty bush].

Two Erroneous Conclusions

At this point its possible to get the wrong idea. First, that Jesus puts His own faith in you in place of… or as a replacement for, your own inadequate faith. This can lead to belief that there is nothing more you need to do. Christ does it all for you.

Another equally wrong idea is that Christ is working in you to strengthen your inadequate faith. To make it stronger and stronger until it reaches His own level, or at least a level that is adequate for God’s purposes. Sounds good but still misses the mark.

You receive a measure of Christ’s own faith as a gift from God through the power of His Holy Spirit. This is a measure of the actual living faith of Jesus Christ at work within you. Remember from previous messages that you are created in the likeness of God, you have a spiritual component in you [the spirit in man]. Romans 8:16 God’s spirit works with your spirit throughout the course of your life to bring about something totally new. A new creation, a new person, born again… like the two different sets of chromosomes that came together to form YOU… some from your mother and some from your father. but that is a different message.

Faith is a product of the spirit [a fruit of the spirit, what the Holy Spirit brings forth]. Jesus faith works together with your faith. Not just His faith given as a substitute for yours. Not just your faith grown up big and strong… its something different, a new creation!

John 14:23

I Corinthians 3:16

I John 3:24 anyone could say “the spirit of God is in me”. How would you know if that is true or not? To the law and the testimony… is that life in conformity to the boundaries provided by God’s commandments… Is it all a dream? Is it all in my head? NO. To answer that question we have [and still need] a written code… carved in stone… or written on paper… provided by God. With it we can check and verify what’s going on within us against something concrete that exists outside our own thoughts, emotions, and subjective experiences.

Test the spirit… hold fast to what is good [read John 4:1]

Paul writes: Do not quench the spirit and let its fire go out… Do not despise and consider the written teachings of no value… test and prove everything… hold on to what is good.

Jesus Christ Actually Lives in You

The holy spirit in you, Jesus living in you, the presence of God… these are all different ways of saying the same thing. His thoughts and actions impact, influence, and direct your thoughts and actions… to the extent that you let Him.

In this manner you can live like Jesus did… exhibiting His character, following His pattern of faith… and He will actively intervene… empower and assist

Galatians 5:22 faith is one of the fruits of the spirit… there are others Christ wants to build in us also

Romans 12:3 we receive faith not as an all or nothing brain dump… we are given a measure

1 Corinthians 12:9 the amount of faith given is unique to the individual… not one size fits all

1 John 5:4 our success in growing into the fullness of Christ is accomplished through faith but also is faith.

Ask God To Increase Your Faith

I have an assignment for you, a takeaway, a call to action: Ask God to increase your faith.

Mark 9:24 cry out, I have faith! Please grow and build the faith of Christ in me!

Luke 17:5 thank you for the small seed of faith your have given… help it to grow in me to be a strong and mighty tree.